The Senate Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes on Tuesday alleged that some Federal Government agencies were secretly recruiting workers to cover up for the over-bloated personnel cost.
This is just as the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) said N9.2bn was discovered in the various accounts of some ministries, department and agencies as “spendable monies.”
The Chairman of the committee, Senator Kwari Suleiman, who spoke when the officials of the ICPC appeared before his panel to defend their 2020 budget, also alleged that the MDAs were backdating the employment letters.
He said, “The ongoing secret recruitment was sequel to the directives by President Muhammadu Buhari that salary of civil servants not captured in the Integrated Personnel and Payroll System should be stopped by the end of October.
“Some agencies are currently employing people; they are doing so to cover their tracks on salaries; appointments are being given and letters backdated to last year just to cover their tracks.”
Responding to the allegation, the Chairman of ICPC, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, also indicted some academic institutions in the padding of personnel cost.
He revealed that N9.2bn was discovered in the accounts of some MDAs in the Central Bank of Nigeria.
He said, “Some MDAs are comfortably hiding some money (about N9.2bn). The money is in the Central Bank of Nigeria. If we did not do our work, it would have been padded as personnel cost. We got them to sign off the money from the CBN. The money is now available for the government to spend.
“The affected agencies inflated the personnel cost despite the fact that their workers have been paid. When the ICPC discovered the N9.2bn, they (the agencies) agreed to release the money.”
Meanwhile, the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, said on Tuesday that the National Assembly would provide the necessary support to the anti-corruption agencies in the fight against corruption.
He said, “The 9th Senate and indeed the National Assembly will support the anti-corruption agencies to the best of its ability, to enable us to eradicate the malaise.”
The Senate President gave the assurance in Abuja while declaring open the third EFCC National Capacity Building Workshop for Justices and Judges in collaboration with the National Judicial Institute.
He said, “What we face today in the area of corruption requires that all hands must be on deck to fight it; and we are determined to work with other arms of government to fight it.
“It is a fight that should be fought by all and we are ready to initiate moves that will help in ensuring we succeed in the fight.”
The Senate president noted that corruption had eaten deep into the very fabric of “our society.”
